Tales From the Sword by Griff Hosker

Author:Griff Hosker
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, azw3
ISBN: 9798617738584
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2020-02-24T00:00:00+00:00

The End

If you enjoyed this book then try reading ‘The English Knight’, the first book in the Anarchy series by Griff Hosker

The Hostile Land

I am Sir Robert of Jericho and I live with my wife and stepson in the land where Christ was born. I did not choose this life; fate chose it for me. I began life as a humble man at arms, Robert of Mont St. Michel and I was a Norman. I was not born of a noble family; my father had been a man at arms and when he had been wounded, he returned to the farm where his parents had lived and he eked out a living making salt and raising sheep. He ensured that I was trained as a warrior from the first moment that I was able to run. He did not enjoy the life he led but knew that he could no longer fight as a man at arms. When I was big enough then he gave me his mail and his sword.

My life might have been spent in Normandy if the Warlord, the Earl of Cleveland, had not hired me as a man at arms. The Warlord was fighting in France for the Empress Matilda and her son, Henry. Battling the French and King Stephen was expensive for men died. He saw in me a good warrior and I was hired. I followed his son, William of Ouistreham, to the Holy Land and there I was knighted. King Baldwin gave me the manor of Jericho. Some thought it was a poisoned chalice but I was given it when I married the widow of the knight who had died defending it, Lady Sarah. Taking her and her son Henry into my life was the best thing that I ever did. True, when Sir William left for England, I chose to stay in the land of the Turk and the Frank. It was a hard decision to make and I felt the loss severely for only Edward, my squire, remained. However, life was good and for a few years, we were happy. The manor was a poor one but I tried all that I could to make it worthy of my wife. I hired half a dozen men at arms and I began to train the Christians who farmed in the manor. They were not the men I had fought alongside with Sir William, but they would do. Edward was a good squire and learned quickly. More, he helped to train Sarah’s son and he would, in turn, become a good warrior. Life was good and I envisaged a peaceful end to my life of war. That dream was shattered by two things, the rise of Nur al-Din and the infighting between the Frankish rulers of the lands of Outremer. Even King Baldwin and his brother Amalric became involved in what was, effectively, a land grab.

At first, I was unaware of these changes. I had much to do ensuring that my lands were safe from bandits and that my farmers prospered.

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